Chapter 22
The feeling of approaching while stepping through sticky blood wasn't pleasant at all.
But I suppressed my emotions.
“… ”
First, I gathered the bags they'd been carrying in one place, then began searching the corpses.
The greatsword the man had been holding, and his armor.
The staff and blue robe that had been in the mage's hands.
The small leather pouches I pulled from the woman's clothing.
I collected every last thing.
After roughly wiping the blood from the equipment, I lined it up on the table and took everything out of the bags as well.
Then I turned on the holographic camera and captured all the items in a single photograph.
Then I picked them up one by one and photographed them.
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Title: I took pictures of every single item.
Author: ㅇㅇ(60F)
{Photos of the looted items}
I wiped off some blood and gathered them roughly. Item Carry, is there anything useful?
_______
Reactions poured in as soon as the pictures went up.
ㅇㅇ(421F) : The haul's packed full hehe.
ㅇㅇ(321F) : This is insane. How many items are there?
ㅇㅇ(249F) : The day we get to farm the hero has finally come lolololol
ㄴㅇㅇ(650F) : O?ur
ㅇㅇ(413F) : Looks like there's at least 30,000 gold worth here. Jeez.
ㅇㅇ(418F) : What's with the pattern on that greatsword? Isn't it a holy sword?
ㅇㅇ(551F) : There are a shitload of consumables.
ㅇㅇ(321F) : What a haul, what a haul!
ㅇㅇ(351F) : Is the size of the gem at the end of that staff for real? It has to be at least Epic. Jeez.
ㅇㅇ(741F) : Look at the shine even though the armor's dented. Isn't it made of adamant or something? Jeez.
ㅇㅇ(148F) : This is a gold mine, a gold mine.
Reading the gallery users' excited comments, my own expectations began to swell.
‘Still, since they're a party that made it this far up the tower... I guess they probably came equipped with good gear.’
But everyone's expectations were shattered soon after.
SSS-Rank Item Carry : ……
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(312F) : Why are you just posting dots? You're making me nervous.
SSS-Rank Item Carry : It's fucking worse than I expected.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(418F) : Huh?
SSS-Rank Item Carry : … It's a complete junkyard...
ㄴㅇㅇ(288F) : Talk about killing the mood.
SSS-Rank Item Carry : I'll write up what can be salvaged from there. Give me a moment.
A little while later, a new post by SSS-Rank Item Carry appeared on the gallery's main board.
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Title: Appraisal Results for the Newbie's Loot
Author: SSS-Rank Item Carry
I'm the most disappointed of all...
I guess there's no need to have such high expectations for things from the outside world...
Patterned greatsword:
You seem to be expecting this to be some kind of holy sword, but it absolutely isn't. It's just an iron-ore sword that looks to be of slightly higher purity. It doesn't even qualify as a decent sword. It seems to have an enchantment on it, but it's nothing special... Pretty underwhelming.
Silver armor:
It isn't adamant. It's just another scrap of iron plate with a polish spell slapped on it.
Staff and wand:
Well... the magic stones mounted on both don't look bad themselves, but the craftsmanship is low-grade. At that level, someone from around Floor 200 could pump it full of mana and blow it up in two tries.
Bracelet:
This one's pretty decent. It looks like an item that increases mana recovery speed. But it's not particularly good.
Consumables:
These are hard to identify just by looking, and they're not my specialty, so I don't know much about them.
Overall, they're all fucking bland. The bracelet might at least be usable until the next Golden Carriage.
[Comments]
ㅇㅇ(205F) : Talk about killing the fucking mood.
ㅇㅇ(411F) : What the hell, they really were total scrubs…
ㅇㅇ(350F) : Huh?
ㅇㅇ(188F) : Why's the yield so bad lolololol
ㅇㅇ(350F) : Wait, weren't they a hero party?
ㅇㅇ(510F) : Since the newbie at his current stats beat them, they must've been scrubs. Why are these guys' expectations so high?
ㅇㅇ(621F) : The intruders suddenly feel so damn lame lol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(360F) : For real lol. I think I get what Repairman bro was saying.
ㄴㅇㅇ(597F) : What, was the Golden Carriage's military supply stash actually a bargain?
_____
“……”
Was there really nothing worthwhile?
Or were the Demon King's army's standards just that high?
Maybe it was because they were used to receiving several hundred gold coins every month just for sitting around, and seeing stores lined with items that were difficult to purchase even with that money.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(60F) : Thank you! But what are their grades?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : So why didn't you list the grades?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(320F) : Maybe you forgot because you were so deflated?
SSS-Rank Item Carry (Author) : …
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : ?
SSS-Rank Item Carry (Author) : The only item with a grade is that bracelet.
ㄴ SSS-Rank Item Carry (Author) : The bracelet's the only Rare one; everything else is Common-tier at best.
ㄴㅇㅇ(310F) : Is that for real? lolololol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(381F) : Then should I store the junk items except the bracelet and melt them down at the next Golden Carriage?
ㄴ SSS-Rank Item Carry (Author) : Yeah, you should melt them down and slot them into junk-fodder rings.
“……”
ㅇㅇ(431F) : If this was all they had, it would've been better to leave the corpses as they were and give them a funeral;
ㅇㅇ(280F) : For real lolololol. We shouldn't have messed with them for no reason.
ㄴㅇㅇ(60F) : Why would you do that?
A funeral? I have no intention whatsoever of doing something so disgusting.
After killing them with these hands, there was no way I'd do something as abhorrent as praying for their souls.
That would be closer to desecrating them than giving them a funeral.
Even if they were nothing but worthless items, the moment I killed them, I had to make use of everything.
Making all of it meaningful would be the only way I could pay my respects.
I wrapped the bracelet around my wrist, then swept all the remaining weapons, armor, and junk items scattered across the table into my inventory.
The looting was more or less finished.
I moved elsewhere to avoid the corpses sprawled across the floor.
It was at that moment that I turned the gallery on again.
ㅇㅇ(702F) : What the hell are you guys talking about? There's some fucking good stuff here.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(146F) : Who the hell is this guy?
ㅇㅇ(702F) : You clueless idiots, tsk tsk.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(418F) : Huh? Item Carry says it's junk.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(351F) : Do you know items better than Item Carry?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(631F) : What's with the aggro lol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(450F) : He's from the 700s, so I don't think he's trolling.
It seemed there was a dissenting opinion.
Had there actually been something good among the items?
ㅇㅇ(702F) : There are S-grade crafting materials all over the place. What a fucking feast.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(431F) : Crafting materials?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(148F) : What the hell are you talking about? Item Carry said consumables weren't his specialty, but what else is there besides those potions and magic stones? They look shitty at a glance.
ㅇㅇ(702F) : I'm talking about the corpses.
ㄴㅇㅇ(352F) : ?
Corpses?
A chill ran down my spine at the ominous feeling.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(352F) : Are corpses items? lol
ㄴㅇㅇ(702F) : Those are all incredibly useful. There's not a single part worth throwing away.
ㄴㅇㅇ(351F) : lolololol He sounds like the owner of some health-food restaurant.
The gallery was buzzing at the appearance of an anonymous user calling corpses crafting materials.
That was when a regular with a registered username who always left comments in a gentle tone on my posts showed up.
Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : Oh my... That's right...! They really are splendid ingredients...! ^^
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(352F) : ?
Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : The heart that was beating just moments ago... Fresh eyeballs... And above all, bright red, hot blood that hasn't gone cold yet...! Ah...! They're so appetizing I could lose myself in them... ^^
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(148F) : ? Sis?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(650F) : I don't think this person is a natural member of the Demon King's army, so what's with her...
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(315F) : That's scary...
Knows the Leisure of a Cup of Black Tea : Hoho... Newbie. It seems it's finally my turn...! First, could you hurry up and store those fresh ingredients in your inventory before they spoil? ^^
ㄴㅇㅇ(431F) : D-d-d-d
“……”
I didn't know exactly what they meant, but I was beginning to get the gist of what they were saying.
I stared at the corpses scattered across the floor.
ㅇㅇ(432F) : Ah, I get it. Aren't the Floor 702 guy and Tea Sis necromancers or something?
ㅇㅇ(702F) : Yeah, that's right. I'm a necromancer.
“I don't plan to use all of them to that extent...”
I'd thought about making everything meaningful, but the idea of using the corpses themselves as ingredients for something was on an entirely different level.
“Maybe I should just store them for now...”
“If the system allows it...”
I reached out with a trembling hand, placed it on the human swordsman's torso soaked in blood, and activated my inventory.
Ssshhk-
[Human Corpse]
The massive corpse was sucked into a holographic window before my eyes.
“This is fucking crazy, seriously.”
With my eyes squeezed shut, I swept the scattered limbs and even the swordsman's skull into my inventory.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(60F): It goes in... I just put them in, and it says [Human Corpse X2] like this;; One of them was so mutilated that it only shows blood and a skull, though.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(341F) : Fuck lol The corpses count as items too lol
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(352F) : Is this really okay...?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ(479F) : This is genuinely brutal, damn.
Floor 60 was clean.
I plopped down on a folding chair and let out a sigh.
Then, as if it had been waiting for me to finish cleaning everything up.
A post at the very top of the gallery's main board was updated.
[Title : Check this out if you're done looting. This is kind of an emergency.]
“An emergency?”
Since it was always an emergency, the word didn't really hit me.
So I opened the post without giving it much thought.
But when I saw the author's floor number and first sentence, my heart sank.
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[Title : Check this out if you're done looting. This is kind of an emergency.]
Author: ㅇㅇ(574F)
Something's gone seriously wrong.
If you hadn't gone three days without sleeping on Floor 25, we might never have found out. I don't know whether to say you did well...
Anyway, listen.